Method for scheduling management operation on devices in a home network

ABSTRACT

A method for scheduling a management operation on devices in a home network is provided. The method includes identifying at least one device among a plurality of devices in a home network to schedule the management operation by a management server; obtaining log information from the at least one device identified by the management server; determining nature of the management operation on the at least one device identified by the management server; and scheduling the management operation on the at least one device identified by the management server in response to the determined nature and the obtained log information.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to an IndianPatent Application filed in the Indian Intellectual Property Office onMay 14, 2014, and assigned Serial No. 2392/CHE/2014, the entire contentof which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to device management in a homenetwork, and more particularly, to a method for scheduling a managementoperation on devices in a home network.

2. Description of the Related Art

The growing popularity of smart home technologies will lead to heavyutilization of network bandwidth, as these technologies allow deploymentof many wireless devices at home. Since these devices at home developwith many user based services, these heavily deployed devices require amanagement facility for most of their management operations, such as,upgrades (software/firmware), diagnoses, configuration changes, and soon.

Generally, these management operations are controlled by one centralserver called Device Management (DM) server. This server has homedevices info up-to-date and these servers are expected to maintainup-to-date information of all devices which are being managed. Wheneverthere is a management operation that needs to be performed on a fewdevices of the home, this server is expected to take care of all theactivities from initiating the request to the end of the managementoperation. Obviously, these kinds of management operations add trafficto the ongoing home network operations, and this might lead to a casewhere home networks are highly affected. In some cases, they even go tothe level of clogging the home network, for example, scenarios wheremanagement operations of most of the home devices need to be performedin bulk.

In a typical smart home scenario, the devices could be fully functionalwith a sufficient amount of resources (display, power, storage,processor, and so on). These devices are connected directly (e.g., Wi-Fienabled) to the home access point, and they could be other sets ofdevices which are having low power (mostly operated on batteries) andwith low processing power, limited storage, and so on. The constraineddevices not having sufficient resources could only be connected to homeaccess point through Multiple RF Radio for Different Standards (MRRD)kind of devices (for example, home gateway having support for Wi-Fi,ZigBee, Z-Wave, and etc.).

Smart home technology and solutions are currently emerging by deployingmany devices at home to provide automated services. In order to providethese features, smart home technology is making most of the electronicdevices around a home to act “smart” or fully automated with moredevices deployed. Many devices may exist in the home network such asIntruder Alarm Systems, Different kind of Lighting systems, WindowCovering Controller, Door Lock, Smart Plug, White Goods, MeterInterface, Scene Selector, Combined Interface, and so on.

Considering a home scenario, where few devices are used by home usersfor playing on-line video, another home user is using a hand held deviceto hear a song by streaming the music from the Internet, at the sametime one or more IP-Camera devices are in process of uploading real-timecaptured videos to the remote server, and the other user is controllingsome home appliance remotely, that is, all these activities arehappening in parallel. In such scenarios, few access routers and therouter which connects with a backbone network are already carrying heavytraffic and the local network will be overloaded if the managementserver wants to do some management activity at this juncture.

In another scenario, when the management server wants to perform a fewmanagement related activities on a group of home devices, and if allthese home devices start responding at same time and start communicatingwith the management server all at once, there will be a huge amount oftraffic within the smart home.

This might even result in a situation, where responses of the managementserver to the few device requests may not reach an actual requesteddevice due to the heavy traffic at home, and as a result, some devicesmay have to retry and there is no guarantee that this re-transmissionwill be successful or not due to timeouts. Non-constrained devicesperforming transmissions might be allowed. However, these non-planned orimproperly initiated management activities should never cause or yield aretrial for the constrained devices. Re-try by a constrained devicemeans more power consumption, waste of processing power, and so on.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to solve at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentinvention is to provide a method for scheduling management operation ondevices in a home network.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method forsending management information to constrained devices in the homenetwork.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method forscheduling management operation on devices through a management serverbased on obtained network traffic information in the home network.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for schedulinga management operation on at least one device is provided. The methodincludes identifying at least one device among a plurality of devices ina home network to perform the management operation by a managementserver; obtaining a log information from at least one device identifiedby the management server; determining nature of the management operationon at least one device identified by the management server; andscheduling the management operation on the at least one deviceidentified by the management server in response to the determined natureand the obtained log information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a server forscheduling a management operation on at least one device is provided.The server is configured to identify the at least one device among aplurality of devices in a home network to perform the managementoperation by a management server, to obtain a log information from atleast one device identified by the management server, to determinenature of the management operation on at least one device identified bythe management server, and to schedule the management operation on atleast one device identified by the management server in response to thedetermined nature and the obtained log information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from thefollowing description with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates various devices in a home network according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical smart home scenario according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for scheduling managementoperation on devices in the home network according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence diagram in which management server obtainsthe network log information from the devices in the home networkaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a sequence diagram in which the management serversends management request to the devices for normal management operation,according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a sequence diagram in which the management serversends management request to the devices for critical managementoperation, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram explaining the method for schedulingmanagement operation on various devices in the home through a DM server,according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a computing environment implementing the method forscheduling management operation on devices in the home network,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention herein and the various features and advantageousdetails thereof are explained more fully with reference to theembodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddetailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-knowncomponents and processing techniques are omitted so as to notunnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used hereinare intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which thepresent invention herein can be practiced and to further enable thoseskilled in the art to practice the present invention herein.Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scopeof the present invention herein.

The present invention provides a method for scheduling a managementoperation on devices in a home network. The method includes initiatingthe management operation by a management server on the devices in thehome network. The management server identifies the devices in the homenetwork for performing the management operation. The management serverrequests the identified devices in the home network for obtaining thenetwork log information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the management server storesthe obtained network log information for future use and makes a list ofapplications that should be paused for performing the managementoperation based on the requirement of the management operation.

Further, the management server determines the nature of the managementoperation that is to be performed on the devices in the home network. Ifit is determined that the nature of the management operation iscritical, then the management server obtains application log details(that are stored in the management server) and determines theapplication which is less prioritized for the device(s) in the homenetwork. The management server sends a request to the device(s) in thehome network to pause the application(s) for an estimated hold time andsends a management request to the device(s).

The device(s) which receives the request from the management server holdits application for requested time without using the network. Further,the device(s) upon receiving the management request from the managementserver, starts performing the management operation. The managementserver also calculates the end time of the management operation withinwhich the device(s) completes the management operation.

When the nature of the management operation is normal, then themanagement server calculates the “ReqRplyStartTime” and “ReqRplyEndTime”time for each management request.

The ‘ReqRplyStartTime’ represents the time at which the selected deviceneeds to initiate the management activity, whereas the ‘ReqRplyEndTime’represents a time by which the management operation is estimated to becompleted.

Further, the management server adds the “start” and “end” timestamp foreach management operation in the management request which is sent to thedevices during normal management operation.

Throughout the description, the terms “Device Management (DM) server”and “management server” are used interchangeably.

Referring to the drawings, similar reference characters denotecorresponding features consistently throughout the figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates various devices in a home network according to anembodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the homenetwork comprises a plurality of devices such as a device 100, a device100 a, a device 100 b, a device 100 c, and so on to a device 100 n. Thedevices 100 a-100 n are connected to an Access Point (AP) 101 forobtaining the wireless internet connectivity. The AP 101 is connected toa Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modem 102 which is connected to theInternet. The devices 100 a-100 n in the home network can be of any kindranging from electric power operated devices to battery driven devices.

In general, the devices 100 a-100 n share a common communication channelfor connecting to the home network. Further, there may be differentapplications running on different devices in the home network and eachapplication (which is running on the device) consumes network resourcesof the home network. The network resources consumed by the applicationsrunning on the devices 100 a-100 n may vary based on the type of theapplications running on the devices 100 a-100 n. The traffic in the homenetwork may vary at different instants of time based on the usage of thedevices that are connected in the home network.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical smart home scenario according to anembodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, in a smarthome scenario, there exists different devices such as the devices thatare capable of supporting Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and other radiofrequencies, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi enabled smart appliances, smartrefrigerators, smart washing machines, low power Radio Frequency (RF)enabled smart appliances, smart phones, and so on, but not limitedthereto. The devices shown in the FIG. 2 are operated either usingelectric power or using battery power. These devices are connected to asingle device (for example, a DSL modem) that provides the connectionbetween the home network and a backbone network. Further, the devices inthe home network are monitored by a Device Management (DM) server 200 asshown in FIG. 2.

Generally, the management operations on the devices in the home networkare controlled by the DM server 200. The DM server possesses theup-to-date information of the devices in the home network, which arebeing managed. Whenever there is a management operation that needs to beperformed on few devices of the home network, the DM server 200 performsall the activities that are associated with the management operation.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for scheduling amanagement operation on devices in the home according to an embodimentof the present invention. In step 301, the management server 200initiates the management operation. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, one or more devices which are registered to the DM server 200initiate the management operation, or the DM server initiates themanagement operation in case of a new management operation.

In step 302, the management server 200 identifies the devices in thehome network (i.e., smart home devices) for performing the managementoperation.

In step 303, the management server obtains the network log informationfrom one or more identified devices in the home network. The managementserver identifies the devices for the management operation in step 302and the management server sends a request to the identified devices toobtain the network log information. The devices (which receive therequest from the management server) start collecting their currentnetwork log information. When the network log information is ready, thedevices post the network log information to the management server.

There are different types of network log information, as describedbelow, obtained by the management server.

The number of applications running on the selected device is denoted by‘n’.The start time of the application is denoted by ‘st’.The estimated end time of the application is denoted by ‘est’.The type of the application running are illustrated as examples of“Video”, “Audio”, “Data” or “Simple” commands.The throughput of the each application is denoted by ‘th’.The trip time of the packet sent by the device (which is identified forsending a trip time) is denoted by ‘tt’.

Further, the management server selects few above-mentioned devices tosend and receive a Packet Trip Time (PTT) packet along with the networklog information. The PTT is a packet which is used to determine the triptime of the packet which is travelled across a main access router.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the management serverrequests more than one device to provide the PTT packets for obtainingan aggregated PTT. In an embodiment of the present invention, themanagement server requests PTT packets from more than one device andestimates (near real-time) ongoing PTT from collected PTTs.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the management server sendsthe PTT packet with a current time stamp to other devices (which areidentified to receive the PTT packet). The devices which receive PTTpacket captures received time of the PTT packet and these devices (whichreceive the PTT packet from the management server) start collecting thenetwork log information. When the network log information is ready, thedevices (which receive the PTT packet from the management server) posttime stamps of PTT packets and network log information to the managementserver.

The network log information (which is obtained as a part of network logcollection at the management server) includes the following parametersas described below.

tt_(k)=trip of the Packet received from k^(th) device (which is one ofthe devices identified for collecting trip time).n_(j)=number of applications running on j^(th) device.st_(ij)=start time of the i^(th) application at j^(th) device inCoordinated Universal Time (UTC).est_(ij)=estimated stop time of the i^(th) application at j^(th) devicein UTC. (It is assumed that each device will be provided with thistime).th_(ij)=throughput of i^(th) application at j^(th) device.tp_(ij)=type of the i^(th) application running on j^(th) device.

Each application will be assigned with a weight based on itssignificance with the network usage by the DM server. The assumed weightfor different types of application is follows:

video=1, audio=2, data=3, and system related operation=4.

When the management server obtains the network log information from theidentified devices as described above, the management server performsthe following calculations as set forth below.

Total throughput (bytes/sec) at j^(th) device is calculated as Equation(1):

$\begin{matrix}{{TH}_{j} = {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}\; {th}_{ij}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

wherein n is the number of application running on j^(th) device.

In Equation (1), j^(th) device is the device on which the managementserver wants to perform its operation or the device working as a proxyfor its sub network).

The average throughput at all the devices is calculated as Equation (2):

$\begin{matrix}{A_{TH} = \frac{\sum_{j = 0}^{d}\; {TH}_{j}}{}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

wherein d is the number of devices selected for logging the networkinformation.

The average trip time of all k packets can be calculated as Equation(3):

$\begin{matrix}{A_{TT} = {\sum\limits_{k = 0}^{d}\; \frac{{tt}_{k}}{k}}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

wherein k is the number of devices identified for reporting the PacketTrip Time (PTT).

The application load at j^(th) device for time duration from currenttime ct to future time ct+t can be calculated as Equation (4):

$\begin{matrix}{{DCL}_{ij} = {\sum\limits_{t = {c\; t}}^{{c\; t} + t}\; {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}\; {{TP}_{ij}*T_{t}}}}} & (4)\end{matrix}$

wherein n is the number of application running on j^(th) device.

The application load at all selected devices for time duration fromcurrent time ct to future time ct+t can be calculated as Equations (5)and (6):

$\begin{matrix}{{NCL}_{t} = {\sum\limits_{t = {c\; t}}^{{c\; t} + t}\; {\sum\limits_{j = 0}^{d}\; {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}\; {{TP}_{ij}*T_{t}}}}}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

wherein n is the number of application running on each device, d is thenumber of devices selected for logging the network information, t is thetime duration which ends until a traffic load has to be estimated, and

$\begin{matrix}{T_{t} = \begin{Bmatrix}0 & {{STij} > {t + {c\; t}}} \\\; & {{ESTij} < {t + {c\; t}}} \\1 & {{STij} < {t + {c\; t}}} \\\; & {{ESTij} > {t + {c\; t}}}\end{Bmatrix}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

wherein ct is the current time in UTC, t is the time till the hometraffic is predicated.

If the management operation has to be performed on j^(th) device orj^(th) device is the access router for the device in its sub networkwhich needs a management operation.

Here, N_(th) is the nominal throughput at home, N_(tt) is the nominaltrip time, and these two are empirically obtained for the typical homenetwork with allowed traffic. a and β are the constants used asthreshold values to find out the maximum load that can be handled by anetwork for the current management operation. N is the number devicewhich needs a management operation, ST_(j) is the time stamp to startthe management operation for the j^(th) device, and ET_(j) is theestimated time stamp to end the management operation for the j^(th)device.

FOR j = 1 to N IF ((TH_(j) < α_(j) * N_(th)) && (A_(TT)< N_(tt))) THENST_(j) = CT       ELSE IF ((TH_(j) > α_(j) * Nth) && (A_(TT) < N_(tt)))THEN          ST_(j) = min of {DCL_(jt)} ELSE IF (A_(TH) < β_(j) *N_(th)) && (A_(TT) < N_(tt))  THEN       ST_(j) =min of {NCL_(t)} ELSEENDFOR

The above method allocates a start time for each device which needs themanagement operation, the continued process of this method will bedescribed below to determine the traffic behavior for the entireduration of the management operation for each device which needs toperform the management operation.

Here, MO_(d) is the device d needs the management operation, and d couldbe 0 to N·MT_(d) is the time duration required for a current managementoperation on each device with pre-determined performance Ψ. WhereinMT_(d)=Dtp_(d)*Ψ (seconds), and Dtp_(d) is the type of the device d.Dc_(d) is the valid time slot counter for the device d. LA_(d) is a listof the application which has been registered as need to be restrictedduring the management operation of device d, and LA_(d) is calculatedbased on the current management operation's priority and the applicationpriority on the device. y is the iteration time, and y=max

{ MT_(d) } + max {ST_(d)}. FOR n = 1 to y FOR d = 1 to N t = ST_(d)         IF (NCL_((t+n)) < (DCL_(d(t+n)) + MT_(d))  AND  MT_(d) >0))         THEN             Increment device valid count Dc_(d)         ELSE             Update LA_(d)          ENDIF     ENDFOR ENDFOR

Once the method gets the details of the traffic behavior and theapplication details which effects the current management operation, thecontinued method will be described below to validate current obtainedoperation times to complete the management operation.

Here, Vc_(d) is the threshold selected to check the number of valid timeslots to be found for device d to perform the current managementoperation.

FOR d = 1 to N IF Dc_(d)  >= Vc_(d) THEN      Device d'sReqRplyStartTime = ST_(d) ReqRplyEndTime = ReqRplyStartTime + MT_(d)ELSE Remove the device d from the current management operation list.ENDIF ENDFOR

In step 304, the management server determines the nature of themanagement operation. The nature of the management operation is acritical management operation or a normal management operation, and isdetermined by the management server. For example, the criticalmanagement operation is an antivirus update on the devices in the homenetwork, which may otherwise lead to security threats within the homenetwork. A normal management operation includes a firmware upgrade, asoftware upgrade, configuration changes, and so on.

In step 305, the management server schedules the management operation onthe one or more identified devices in a home network based on thedetermined nature of the management operation and the obtained loginformation. Priorities may be assigned to the applications based on thetype of applications and the nature of the management operation by themanagement server.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the management operationis critical, the management server determines that the application isless prioritized for the devices in the home network. Further, themanagement server sends the request to pause the application on thedevices for a time interval in order to perform the critical managementoperation. When the nature of the management operation is determined tobe critical, at least one of the applications running on the at leastone device is identified based on the obtained log information, and ispaused for initiating the critical management operation. The device mayindicate a user to pause the identified at least one of the applicationsthrough a message for performing the management operation by themanagement server, and receive an input from the user to initiate themanagement operation by the management server.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the management operationis normal (not critical), then the management server calculates the“ReqRplyStartTime” and “ReqRplyEndTime” for each management request. The“ReqRplyStartTime” represents the time at which the device needs toinitiate the management activity, whereas the “ReqRplyEndTime”represents the time at which the management activity is estimated to becompleted by the device.

Further, the management server adds the “start” and “end” timestamp foreach management operation in the management request which is sent to thedevices during the normal management operation.

Further, the various actions, units, steps, blocks, or acts described inthe method described above can be performed in the order presented, in adifferent order, simultaneously, or a combination thereof.Alternatively, some of the actions, units, steps, blocks, or acts in theFIG. 3 may be omitted.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence diagram in which management server obtainsthe network log information from the devices in the home networkaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In step 401, the DMserver 200 sends a request for obtaining network logs to the selecteddevices 100 and 100 b. In step 402, the devices 100 and 100 b whichreceive the request from the DM server 200 prepare the current networklog information. In step 403, when the log information is prepared, thedevices 100 and 100 b send log information to the DM server 200. In step404, the device 100 and device 100 b send a simple packet called PacketTrip Time (PTT) packet with current time stamp to the devices 100 a and100 c (these devices are identified to receive the PTT packet),respectively. The devices 100 a and 100 c which receive PTT packetcapture received time of the PTT packet and prepare all log streams instep 405. In step 406, when the log streams are prepared, the devices100 a and 100 c send time stamps of PTT packets and network logs to theDM server 200.

The devices 100 and 100 b also can forward the network logs to thedevices 100 a and 100 c in order to avoid a separate individual networklog update to the DM server, thus can save some message flow by sendingbundled logs in a single request. The devices 100 a and 100 c can bundlethe network logs received from the devices 100 and 100 b, and send thenetwork logs, which may be referred to as log stream (log stream isbundled network logs), to the DM server.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sequence diagram in which the management serversends a management request to the devices for a normal managementoperation according to an embodiment of the present invention. When theDM server 200 obtains the network log information from the devices(which are identified to perform the management operation), the DMserver 200 determines the nature of the management operation. Referringto FIG. 5, in step 501, the DM server 200 sends the management requestnotification to the Router 500 a for sending the management request tothe device 100. The Router 500 a receives the management request fromthe DM server 200 and forwards the management request to the nextinternal proxy, which is the Router 500 b, in step 502. In step 503, theRouter 500 b sends the management request to the device 100 that areidentified for performing the management operation. The device 100receives the management request from the Router 500 b and starts themanagement operation or the management activity at the requested time(also known as start time) in step 504. In step 505, the device 100sends an acknowledgement to the DM server 200 for participating in themanagement operation.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sequence diagram in which the management serversends a management request to the devices for a critical managementoperation according to an embodiment of the present invention. When theDM server 200 obtains the network log information from the devices(which are identified to perform the management operation), the DMserver 200 determines the nature of the management operation. Referringto FIG. 6, in step 601, the DM server 200 sends the management requestnotification to the Router 500 a for sending the management request tothe device 100. The Router 500 a receives the management request fromthe DM server 200 and forwards the management request to the device 100in step 602. In step 603, the device 100 a receives the managementrequest and pauses the application suggested by the DM server. In step604, the device 100 sends the notification request to the device 100 a.When the device 100 a receives the notification request, the device 100a starts the management activity in step 605. In step 606, the device100 a sends an acknowledgment to the DM server 200 for participating inmanagement activity.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram explaining the method for scheduling amanagement operation on various devices in the home network through a DMserver according to an embodiment of the present invention. In anembodiment of the present invention, in step 701, the management serverinitiates the management operation or functionality on the devices inthe home network.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the devices which areregistered to the management server initiate the management operation todetermine a new management operation or the management server initiatesthe management operation when there is a need for a new operation.

The management server checks for the requirement of the initiatedmanagement operation and starts a management functionality if anymanagement operation needs to be performed.

In step 702, the management server identifies the devices in the homenetwork for performing a management operation. Further, the managementserver requests network logs from the devices.

In step 703, the management server obtains the network logs from thedevices in the home network. Further, the management server stores thenetwork logs obtained from the devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the management server obtainsall the network logs and stores the application log details for a futureuse to make a list of application which needs to be restricted duringany critical management operation.

In step 704, the management server determines the nature of themanagement operation. If the management operation is determined to becritical in step 704, then, in step 705, the management server obtainsthe details of applications which can be paused for performing themanagement operation. Further, the management server estimates the endtime for the management operation.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the nature of themanagement operation is critical, then the management server obtains theapplication details that are stored (in the management server) anddetermines the application which is less prioritized for particulardevices (the devices that are identified for performing the managementoperation).

In step 706, the management server sends a notification request to thedevice for pausing the application. Further, the method 700 allows themanagement server to start the management operation on the device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the management server sendsthe notification request to pause the application for an estimated holdtime. When the device receives the notification request from themanagement server, the application pauses the network usage for therequested time (hold time) and informs the management server.

In step 707, the device in the home network performs the criticalmanagement activity.

If the management operation is determined to be not critical in step704, then, in step 708, the management server estimates the start timeand the end time for each device (which is identified for performing themanagement operation) in the home network.

Since the management operation is not critical, the management serverestimates the start time which is known as “ReqRplyStartTime” and theend time known as “ReqRplyEndTime” for each management request asdescribed in FIG. 3.

In step 709, the management server appends the “start” and the “end”timestamp for each management request.

In step 710, the management server sends the notification request forperforming the management operation on the identified device in the homenetwork.

In step 711, the device in the home network initiates the managementoperation based on the start time and end time that are appended in themanagement request.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the device (which receivesthe notification request to hold its application based on the priorityassigned to application) holds the application for a requested timewithout using the network.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the device which receives thecritical management operation starts performing its managementoperation.

Further, the device which receives the normal management operationstarts its operation from estimated “ReqRplyStartTime”.

Since the devices in the home network are dynamic in nature in terms ofusage ability and mobility, which creates lots of variation with respectto the predicated and real time traffic. In order to match thepredicated traffic with real time traffic during the managementoperation, the management server requests the devices in the homenetwork to send the notification, if any new device is connected in ahome network or any drastic change in the device application behavior inthe home network. This provides information to the management server toaccount the changed traffic with predicated one.

Further, the various actions, units, steps, blocks, or acts described inthe method described above can be performed in the order presented, in adifferent order, simultaneously, or a combination thereof.Alternatively, some of the actions, units, steps, blocks, or acts in theFIG. 7 may be omitted.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computing environment implementing the method forscheduling a management operation on devices in the home network,according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.8, the computing environment 801 comprises at least one processing unit804 that is equipped with a control unit 802 and an Arithmetic LogicUnit (ALU) 803, a memory 805, a storage 806, a plurality of networkingdevices 808 and a plurality of Input/Output (I/O) devices 807. Theprocessing unit 804 is responsible for processing the instructions ofthe algorithm. The processing unit 804 receives commands from thecontrol unit 802 in order to perform its processing. Further, anylogical and arithmetic operations involved in the execution of theinstructions are computed with the help of the ALU 803.

The overall computing environment 801 is composed of multiplehomogeneous and/or heterogeneous cores, multiple Central ProcessingUnits (CPUs) of different kinds, special media, and other accelerators.The processing unit 804 is responsible for processing the instructionsof the algorithm. Further, the plurality of processing units 804 may belocated on a single chip or over multiple chips.

The algorithm comprising of instructions and codes required for theimplementation are stored in either the memory unit 805 or the storage806, or both. At the time of execution, the instructions may be fetchedfrom the corresponding memory 805 and/or storage 806, and executed bythe processing unit 804.

In case of any hardware implementations, various networking devices 808or external I/O devices 807 may be connected to the computingenvironment to support the implementation through the networking devices808 and the I/O devices 807.

The embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein can beimplemented through at least one software program running on at leastone hardware device and performing network management functions tocontrol the elements. The elements shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8include blocks which can be at least one of a hardware device, or acombination of hardware device and software module.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will reveal thegeneral nature of the embodiments of the present invention so thatothers can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adaptfor various applications such specific embodiments without departingfrom the generic concept of the present invention, and therefore, suchadaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehendedwithin the meaning and range of equivalents of the present invention. Itis to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed hereinis for the purpose of description and not limitation. Therefore, whilethe present invention herein have been described in terms ofembodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that theembodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spiritand scope of the present invention defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for scheduling a management operation onat least one device, the method comprising: identifying the at least onedevice among a plurality of devices in a home network to schedule themanagement operation by a management server; obtaining log informationfrom the at least one device identified by the management server;determining nature of the management operation on the at least onedevice identified by the management server; and scheduling themanagement operation on the at least one device identified by themanagement server in response to the determined nature and the obtainedlog information.
 2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the loginformation comprises number of applications running on the at least onedevice, start times of the applications, estimated end times of theapplications, throughput of the applications, type of the applications,and Packet Trip Time (PTT).
 3. The method as in claim 1, whereinscheduling the management operation comprises: when the managementoperation is determined to be normal, estimating a start time and an endtime for performing the management operation based on the obtained loginformation from the identified at least one device.
 4. The method as inclaim 3, wherein the start time represents a time at which the at leastone device needs to initiate the management operation and the end timerepresents a time at which the management operation is estimated to becompleted by the at least one device.
 5. The method as in claim 1,wherein scheduling the management operation comprises: when the natureof the management operation is determined to be critical, identifying atleast one of the applications running on the at least one device basedon the obtained log information, wherein the identified at least one ofthe applications is paused for initiating the critical managementoperation.
 6. The method as in claim 5, wherein further comprising:indicating a user to pause the identified at least one of theapplications through a message for performing the management operationby the management server; and receiving an input from the user toinitiate the management operation by the management server.
 7. Themethod as in claim 1, wherein scheduling the management operationcomprises assigning priorities to the applications based on the type ofapplications and the nature of the management operation by themanagement server.
 8. A server for scheduling a management operation onat least one device, wherein the server is configured to: identify theat least one device among a plurality of devices in a home network toschedule the management operation by a management server; obtain loginformation from the at least one device identified by the managementserver; determine nature of the management operation on the at least oneidentified device identified by the management server; and schedule themanagement operation on the at least one identified device identified bythe management server in response to the determined nature and theobtained log information.
 9. The server as in claim 8, wherein the loginformation comprises number of applications running on the at least onedevice, start times of the applications, estimated end times of theapplications, throughput of the applications, type of the applications,and Packet Trip Time (PTT).
 10. The server as in claim 8, wherein theserver is further configured to estimate a start time and an end timefor performing the management operation based on the obtained loginformation from the identified at least one device, when the managementoperation is determined to be normal.
 11. The server as in claim 10,wherein the start time represents a time at which the at least onedevice needs to initiate the management operation and the end timerepresents a time at which the management operation is estimated to becompleted by the at least one device.
 12. The server as in claim 8,wherein the server is further configured to identify at least one of theapplications running on the at least one device based on the obtainedlog information, wherein the identified at least one of the applicationsis paused for initiating the critical management operation, when thenature of the management operation is determined to be critical.
 13. Theserver as in claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to:indicate a user to pause the at least one identified application througha message for performing the management operation; and receive an inputfrom the user to initiate the management operation.
 14. The server as inclaim 8, wherein the server is further configured to assign prioritiesto the applications based on the type of applications and the nature ofthe management operation.